Carbon monofluoride CF.sub.x, exists as a series of compositions wherein the x value can range from 0.1 to 1.26. Current interest in these compositions stems from the potential industrial applications in such diverse areas as lubrication, stain repellent materials, battery materials, anti-wetting agents, etc.
In the prior art, compositions of this kind are conventionally prepared by contacting various forms of carbon with fluorine gas and an inert diluent. In this respect, the following prior art generally typifies known methods for making compositions of this kind:
(1) The preparation of poly-dicarbon monofluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,474.
(2) A process for the continuous fluorination of carbon as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,663.
(3) A process for producing a graphite fluoride comprising mainly polydicarbon monofluoride represented by the formula (C.sub.2 F).sub.n as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,261.
(4) A process for preparing polycarbonmonofluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,263.
(5) A process for the preparation of graphite fluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,032.
(6) A process for preparing poly-dicarbon monofluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,615.
(7) A method for the preparation of graphite fluoride by contact reaction between carbon and fluorine gas as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,086.
(8) The synthesis of fluorographite as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,918.
(9) The process for preparing polycarbonmonofluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,492.
(10) A mechanism described as providing new synthetic approaches to graphite-fluorine chemistry as disclosed by Lagow et al., J. C. S. Dalton, 1268 (1974).
However, most of the known prior art methods suffer from one or more disadvantages. A particular disadvantage among the drawbacks of the prior art is the long reaction time required to completely fluorinate a carbon material to ensure complete formation to CF.sub.1. Required reaction periods of from 120 hours to as long as several hundred hours have been noted. This long reaction period requires the use of large quantities of fluorine gas, thus rendering the production of CF.sub.x as excessively costly. Also during this long reaction period, there is a tendency for side reactions to occur. Some typical by-product formation reactions are illustrated by the following reactions. ##STR1##
Thus, the overall process results in a low yield of CF.sub.x and the formation of large quantities of gaseous byproduct. Again, the relatively expensive reagent, fluorine, is wasted.
During the formation of these by-products substantial quantities of heat can also be liberated. With the increase in heat in the reactor, the probability arises for the propagation or formation of by-products. Also, the result of this aforementioned heat buildup could be a violent uncontrolled decomposition leading to an explosion. Thus, there still exists the need to provide a means of preparing CF.sub.x in as short of a time span as possible to alleviate the problems mentioned above.
In an analogous manner to CF.sub.x, the need is present for a suitable means for preparing (C.sub.y F.sub.x Cl.sub.z).sub.n which is also growing in importance in industrial applications. This has arisen because of the superior properties of (C.sub.y F.sub.x Cl.sub.z).sub.n as compared to CF.sub.x as indicated for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,881. Carbon chloride fluoride is prepared by a similar heterogeneous reaction of carbon with mixtures of chlorine and fluorine in an inert diluent. (Both the chlorine and fluorine atoms in such molecules are covalently bonded to carbon.) These procedures as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,881 are detailed in British Patent 759,173 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,874 and are hereby incorporated herein by reference. However, the procedures as disclosed in this prior art suffer from either requiring long reaction times or high reaction temperatures, leading to by-product formation as described above. Clearly, the need for an improved procedure for the preparation of CF.sub.x and (C.sub.y F.sub.x Cl.sub.z).sub.n exists.